Security is about trade-offs. If you put a lock on your door, it takes you longer to get inside when you come home. If you put bars on your windows, you can't escape through them if there's a fire.
We balance our desire for security with the costs of security all the time. Except we usually act not to make ourselves truly safe, but we act based on what makes us FEEL safe.
This essay spells it out. Human instinct is really bad at statistics. Planes are way safer than cars, but we don't feel that way, so we don't act in a way that reflects the truth.
Plus some people have their own idea about how we should use our resources and what we should trade off. And they make us feel afraid of stuff we shouldn't fear.
Sigh.
No comments:
Post a Comment